Coding Comes to the National Astronomy Meeting 2014

The latest issue of Astronomy & Geophysics includes an article by your truly about the GitHub/.Astronomy Hack Day at the UK’s National Astronomy Meeting in Portsmouth earlier this year.

The projects resulting from hack days are often prototypes, or proof-of-concept ideas that are meant to grow and expand later. Often they are simply written up and shared online for someone else to take on if they wish. This ethos of sharing and openness was evident at the NAM hack day, when people would periodically stand up and shout to the room, asking for anyone with skills in a particular area, or access to specific hardware.